The Black Snakes lost the mental battle against their Taree counterparts with Dylan Yeomans' second-half strike providing a rare shining light.

"Our guys were outclassed really and they learnt what this competition is about," McIntosh said.

"There was a bit too much niggle (that) they let get to them instead of just playing hockey."

Youngster Taj McIntosh provided the handy lead-up work for Yeomans' goal while fellow teenager Adam Rhook was one of Camden Haven's best.

"Our goal came from some good lead-up work from Taj who spent most of the game hiding, but the first time he took anyone on he set up the goal," McIntosh said.

"A few guys wanted to try and match the physicality while a few others were quiet and a couple just tried to play hockey.

"For our guys it was one of those wake-up games."

McIntosh said his team would still take plenty of positives from the loss - you normally take more from a loss than you do a win.

"It was only our third game of the season and we've had some mixed results," he said.

"We had a 4-1 loss to Tacking Point in the opening round, but we were good for three quarters and then we had a good win over Chatham last week."

The captain-coach said they would be better prepared for the next time they came up against the more experienced teams in the competition.

"We could take a lot of learnings out of the game and make sure we keep composed in these types of games," he said.

"You tend to not learn much when you win so it took us back to earth of how things are in this competition."

Camden Haven's women's team suffered a 4-0 loss to Taree in a game that lacked any significant flow.

"They were dragged in to a stop-start tussle where they normally rely on free-flowing style of play," McIntosh said.